Age in the Military

[CoBoY]

I'm hoping someone can give me some advice on this. I am currently 27, turning 28 in July. I have been seriously considering enlisting in the Coast Guard. The age cut off is 27, so I figure I better get with it.

My question is this: If I do enlist and get accepted, what will boot camp be like for me? What I mean is, what can I expect being so much older (I assume) than most of the others there? Will I be treated differently (tougher) for being so "old"?

I'm just wondering if anyone else enlisted at an "older" age and has a viewpoint on it?

oh, and as a side note, which job is best to choose if Law Enforcement is my goal?

[JerseyBoy]

If you have a degree, I would suggest going OCS. If you do not, I wouldn't worry about it. For the most part, the people out of my Company, (60 people) the average age was early to mid twenties, Myself being 20 at the time. I know they change things in Boot camp all of the time, but for the most part, I wouldn't worry about the physical aspect of it. Just a lot of yelling. If you are worried about them getting on your case because you are older, I wouldn't worry about it, they will just find something else to get on your case about.
As for going into LE, when you get to your unit, let your command know that you want to going to boarding team school. Some units require you to be qualified in certin skills before they send you off to a school. So it might take a little while. Boatswains Mate (sp??) would be your best bet to see Law Enforcement once you are rated. There are some big changes coming with the Coast Guard with their rate structure, so you will definitly want to talk to a recruiter about it. Here is a link to the training center:http://www.uscg.mil/hq/capemay/recruittraining.htm

[CoBoY]

Great...thanks for the info!

[Bonk]

On a completely unrelated side note, I had a 30 year old friend (waivered) in my platoon at Parris Island, and he made it through fine. Even though he was older than two of our DI's he was still treated like the rest of us (like dirt). Go for it.

[LeCarre]

I'm 33 and will be attending Army BCT this January. For me it's simply a ticket I have to get punched in order to get into the National Guard and OCS. I don't give a rip how they treat me because I plan to dust 'em all in PT, shooting, orienteering, etc. The bigger question I keep asking myself is if I can take nine weeks with a bunch of much younger recruits. I'll enter as an E4, so I expect to have some responsibility immediately, something that I'll need to remain sane.

If this is a dream of yours as it is mine, nine weeks is a very short period of time in order to realize a lifelong goal. You don't want to be sitting around 10 years from now saying to yourself, "Gee, I wish I woulda..."

Best of luck.